ÌÇÐÄTV

Dr Xianguo Lu and Dr John Back have received funding from Science Technology and Facilities Council (STFC) for two PhD studentships for 3.5 years with top up funding provided by the University. The studentships will allow the students access to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), one of Europe’s largest multidisciplinary scientific research laboratories and the UK’s national centre for experimental particle physics.

The Particle Physics Department at RAL recruit 5-11 graduates every year, and each student is registered for a degree at a partner University.

Dr Back's project is titled "Physics studies for the Muon Collider target system" and the student will study and optimise the pion-to-muon production yields and radiation dose (energy deposition rates) for the target system that is being designed for the Muon Collider, which has great potential to be a future facility for high-energy physics research. The student would spend time both at ÌÇÐÄTV and at RAL, working in partnership with Dr. Chris Densham's High Power Targets Group that is at the leading edge of target engineering, with the possibility of visits to CERN.

Dr Lu’s project is titled ‘Next-generation neutrino experiments in nuStorm’ and will evaluate and optimise the nuSTORM neutrino physics capabilities for processes in and beyond the Standard Model. The student would spend time both at ÌÇÐÄTV and at the RAL with the possibility of long-term visits to CERN and working alongside physicists in the CERN neutrino group.

The positions will start in Autumn 2023. Applications are now open, with a deadline of 2^nd February.

Congratulations to our final year PhD student, Thomas Killestein who is an author on a paper titled '' which has been published in Nature Astronomy.

Thomas tells us "The object itself is a black hole feeding on a star, and at peak was around 20 trillion times more luminous than that of our Sun, in an extreme example of astrophysics. the black hole is shredding a star similar to our own Sun, which forms a disc of material around the black hole, before ejecting material in jets at almost the speed of light, in one of the most energetic events ever seen."

The research has been undertaken by a global team, who conducted analysis of this newly discovered object across the electromagnetic spectrum. Thomas' focus was helping with ground-based infrared observations, remotely observing from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) New Technology Telescope (NTT) as part of the ePESSTO+ collaboration.

"While there are many theories as to what powers these energetic events, the vast energies of the jets seen in this system don't fit neatly into our understanding of the phenomena, so the puzzle continues. It's been amazing to be part of the research into this example of extreme astrophysics."

Professor Animesh Datta has been awarded funding through the EPSRC New Horizons initiative, working alongside Dr Tom Gur from the Department of Computer Science titled 'Property Testing for Quantum Engineering (ProTeQE). In addition to advancing the building of quantum computers, ProTeQE will nourish basic curiosity. Quantum mechanics, our present fundamental theory of Nature, is inherently probabilistic, and non-local. When these concepts interface with those of property testing and approximate decision-making, the outcomes could impact the foundations of our understanding of the laws of Nature. In particular, ProTeQE may eventually shed light on an abiding question: Are all fundamental laws of Nature (such as quantum mechanics) efficiently testable?

We are proud to announce our Athena SWAN Silver Award has been renewed for another five years. We would like to thank everyone who has helped with the progress we have made advancing gender equality in the department, with our Women in Physics group highlighted as an example of good practice.

Read our submission.